Airport To Close For Runway Work

Airport to close for runway work

BY JEFF MEADE

Monroe Custer Airport will be closed for about 30 days beginning next week during a $1.6 million runway recon¬struction project.

Airport manager Scott Da¬vison said the airport will close early next week, as soon as Monday.

“Business type of incom¬ing traffic and tenants are going to have to use another airport,” he said. “The con¬tractor has 30 days to com¬plete this. This was one of those necessary evils.”

One section of the runway will have to be removed.

Mr. Davison said such work has to be done “about every 30 years, similar to the life of a street. It’s in poor condition now. The state rating put us at a critical category.”

Custer Airport at 2800 N. Custer Rd. is owned and maintained by the City of Monroe and managed by the Monroe Port Commission. It is considered a general avia¬tion airport by the Michigan Department of Transporta¬tion. The airport has a 5,000 foot by 100 foot runway.

Ninety-five percent of the project will be federally funded with half of the re¬maining covered by the state and the other half by the city, coming from the airport.

The last major airport run¬way work done in the late 1980s. The current project was considered for funding through the American Re¬covery and Reinvestment Act but did not make the funding cut. However, federal fund¬ing was available through the Airport and Airway Im¬provement Act of 1982 and the Aviation Safety and Noise Abatement Act of 1979.

State funding also is cov¬ered. MDOT received a block grant from the Federal Avia¬tion Administration for air¬port development projects.

Last month the Monroe City Council awarded a $1.275 million construction contract with Cadillac As¬phalt LLC of Ypsilanti. The bid, one of four received, came in 18 percent under the engineer’s estimate. Anoth¬er contract of $111,000 was awarded to Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc. for construc¬tion engineering services.

The city’s share of the proj¬ect cost is $37,000, not includ¬ing previous design costs.